


We Need to Talk

by need_more_meta



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Comedy, Established Relationship, Everything ends well I promise, Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Poor Kylo, Soft Kylux, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, human disaster Hux, whiteboard shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:53:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29587503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/need_more_meta/pseuds/need_more_meta
Summary: After Ren’s unexpected confession, Hux decides it’s his turn. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 27
Kudos: 109





	We Need to Talk

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this tweet](https://twitter.com/nannathebold/status/1361423330469896197): _"Hux takes so long and is so convoluted when he tries to tell Kylo that he loves him the first time, that Kylo thinks Hux is breaking up with him"_
> 
> Betaed by the absolutely magical [Hark_bananas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hark_bananas/pseuds/Hark_bananas). <3

Ren presses a soft kiss to Hux’s temple, his lips warm and dry. It’s almost routine, by this time, and Hux lets the corner of his mouth turn up at the attention as he slowly wakes up in Ren’s embrace. It’s his favorite way to wake up, now, though he might never admit it aloud. Ren’s arms are around him, strong and possessive and very much welcome.

Then Ren does something unspeakable.

“I love you,” he whispers into Hux’s ear instead of the customary _good morning_ , and Hux immediately pretends he’s still asleep.

What the kriff.

Ren keeps nuzzling Hux’s face as if nothing is amiss. Perhaps he’s fallen for Hux’s pretense and assumes Hux hasn’t heard him. That would be for the best.

Except Hux has definitely heard him, and now he’s got to do something about it. He can’t just let the matter lie, not something as huge as this. Not that Ren has to know, of course. Hux will tell him everything in due time.

Yes, that should work.

“We need to talk,” Hux tells Ren, catching him right at the end of the day shift a week later.

“Okay,” Ren says, eyes wary and weirdly shiny in the stark lighting of the ship corridor. Hux dismisses it as a trick of light.

“Follow me,” he clips, striding toward the conference room he had booked for the conversation. He’d take Ren to his quarters, but what he’s going to say is important and he wants it to feel official. He’s worked so hard on it, after all.

He gestures for Ren to sit at one end of the long conference table as he takes position at the other end of it, standing with his back to the whiteboard they use during meetings for illustration purposes. He clasps his hands behind his back, fingers of his right hand clutching at his left wrist, while he tries to take a few steadying breaths to compose himself. He’s nervous, which should be expected, but is still aggravating. It’s just Ren. It’s just probably the most important presentation of his life.

He takes a deep breath, exhales slowly and plows right on.

“Quite often, when two people meet for the first time, there’s a spark of emotion between them which then permeates their entire relationship regardless of what turn it takes in the future,” he begins and is delighted to hear that his tone remains steady despite the sweat slowly beading at the back of his neck. “For example, it can be a mutual resentment that simmers underneath whatever civilities the persons in question endeavor to extend to each other. Regardless of their efforts, it’s still there, and nothing can be done about it. It’s irrational, yet powerful. Inexplicable, yet unavoidable. Do you understand, Ren?”

“Yes,” Ren replies, his voice hushed and small for some reason. Hux clears his throat and wishes he had thought to pour himself a glass of water. His mouth feels dry and his heart is thundering in his ears.

He can do this. He’s prepared and he can do this.

“It has come to my attention that you”—Hux stumbles here, coughs, curses himself inwardly, and continues, just shy of shaking all over—“that you have developed certain feelings for me. Is that true, Ren?”

Ren nods, a bit stiffly. He doesn’t meet Hux’s eyes.

“As you might know, feelings are not a field I am particularly familiar with, nor especially comfortable.” Hux really wishes he had thought about water. He’d give anything to unstick his tongue from his teeth right now. He turns to the whiteboard, takes a marker, and draws a big circle, which he labels _feelings_. Then he draws two stick figures, one close to the circle and one on the other side of the board. He captions them _Ren_ and _Hux_ respectively. “As you can see, I am situated further from the realm of feelings than you are, but I am not entirely absent from this picture.” He draws a thick line between the Ren figure and the circle of feelings. “This represents you and your… connection to the feelings that you feel.” He’s losing it. _Feelings that you feel_. He’s totally losing it.

Ren shifts in his seat. Hux is losing his attention. This is no good.

He should have spent more time on this. Put together a proper presentation, with slides and everything, not this amateur-hour bantha shit. Stick figures, for kriff’s sake.

Well, this is where he is now. All because he couldn’t wait any longer. Might as well get on with it.

He clears his throat again, trying to dislodge the lump that is threatening to turn his voice into some undignified squawking. The marker almost slips between his fingers, which are clammy with nervous sweat. He adjusts his grip and draws a dashed line between the Hux figure and the circle. “This is my connection, which is weaker, perhaps, but not completely non-existent,” he comments, feeling stupid but not willing to give up halfway through. He draws a wavy line connecting his figure to the circle and going on to the Ren figure. “This,” he taps the wavy line, “is the underlying emotion that I was talking about at the beginning of this… presentation.”

Ren sniffles, for some reason. Hux peers at him and sees that Ren’s eyes have become red-rimmed. The idiot has always been so emotional, which is precisely the point Hux is making. He takes it as a sign that the presentation is actually going pretty well, despite feeling like a complete disaster.

“Now, you may disagree with me about the nature of this underlying emotion, but I am inclined to insist that it has always been there, since I have been powerless to struggle against it at any point of our... relationship, including the openly antagonistic part of it.” He puts the marker down and runs his palms down his uniform to wipe the sweat off of them.

“Have you now,” Ren mutters, with a strange bitterness to his voice. Hux ignores him. He’s got it. Just a little bit left.

“I am not in the habit of putting labels on the emotions I experience, apart from _useful_ or _not useful_ , but this situation is... important enough to me to warrant making an exception for it.“ There, he admitted it, and he didn’t even spontaneously combust on the spot. He instantly counts it as a win.

Ren snorts. If Hux didn’t know better, he’d say the noise was derisive. He looks at Ren.

“Something funny I said?”

“Just say it, Hux.” Ren waves a hand in front of him in a dismissive gesture. “No need to prolong the suffering.”

“Suffering?” Hux blinks. “Are you suffering? Why are you suffering?” Why would Ren be suffering? Hux is baring his entire soul here, surely Ren should be grateful. Or at least properly impressed.

Ren just stares at him, his eyes huge and unmistakably watery. This is not going well at all.

“Anyway,” Hux exhales, trying to salvage the situation. “In conclusion,” he takes the marker again and turns the dashed line between his figure and the circle of feelings into a thick solid one, then draws it further to connect to the line going from the Ren figure. “I cannot but admit that this underlying emotion of”—he almost bites his tongue—“of attraction and unconditional affection”—he can feel the skin on his face boiling—“has made my connection to my feelings for you solidify into a reflection of your own.”

There. It’s all out in the open now. He’s at Ren’s mercy and his skin is aflame.

Ren blinks at him.

“What the fuck does that mean?” he asks, sounding, of all things, angry.

That is not the reaction Hux was going for.

“It means that I feel for you the same way that you feel for me,” he says weakly, his tongue almost catching on his teeth.

“What?”

“I love you too, Ren.” His voice is too high for this. It’s practically a squeak.

Ren slams his hands onto the table. Hux flinches, dropping the marker.

“Hux,” Ren starts growling, “you complete fucking monster. I thought,” he bites his lip. “I thought you were breaking up with me!”

Hux stutters. “What? Why would you think that?”

“You ignored me for an entire week!”

“I was busy working on this presentation for you!”

“Why the fuck did you need a karking presentation?!” Ren springs up, waving his hands erratically. “You couldn’t just tell me?”

“Of course I couldn’t!” Hux screams. His face must be completely red. He feels his heartbeat in every cell of his body. “It’s way too important!”

“What is?!”

“You are!”

They stand glaring at each other from opposite ends of the conference table, both breathing hard. The tension in the room is so heavy, Hux feels like he’s suffocating.

This did not go well at all.

Finally, Ren exhales and puts his hands on the table before him, leaning on them. “You heard me.”

Hux swallows. “Pardon?”

“That morning, when I said I loved you. I thought you didn’t hear me at first, but then you started avoiding me, so I thought you did and were now looking for a way to dump me.”

“Ren, why would you think that?” Hux flaps his arms, exasperated. “You just startled me, and it took me some time to prepare my response.”

“Of course.” Ren huffs a laugh. It’s not exactly a happy sound, but there’s nothing sad about it, either. “I forget how meticulous you are with everything.”

“You knew what you were signing up for.”

“I’m not complaining.” Ren straightens up and extends a hand over the table toward Hux. “Come here?” he asks, eyes twinkling.

“Yes,” Hux says, relieved, crossing the room in a few long strides. He takes Ren’s hand and lets Ren pull him into a tight embrace.

“You’re impossible,” Ren tells him, one of his hands going up to mess up Hux’s carefully gelled hair. “I love you.”

“You’re an idiot,” Hux says, pressing his lips to the corner of Ren’s mouth. “I love you too.”

“Attraction and unconditional affection, did you say?” Ren smirks, pouring all of those feelings into kissing Hux. It sends shivers all through Hux’s body. When Ren finally pulls away, he asks, “Why did you have to start with mutual resentment, though?”

“It was just an example.” Hux wraps his arms tighter around Ren’s body. “I didn’t know you were going to get all dramatic about it.”

“Asshole,” Ren breathes tenderly into Hux’s ear, then traces its shape with his tongue. Hux can feel his toes curl in his boots.

“This room,” he pants against Ren’s mouth, “it’s booked for another hour.” Ren pulls back to quirk an eyebrow at him. “I thought you might’ve had questions.”

“Oh, I do,” Ren assures him, lifting him up like he weighs nothing and placing him on the table. Hux wraps his legs around Ren’s waist. It’s comfortable; more than that, it’s right.

“Go on, then. Ask.” Hux throws his head back, giving Ren access to his neck, which he immediately takes advantage of, licking a wet strip along the column of Hux’s throat.

“What d’you think I’m doing right now?” he whispers against the sensitive skin behind Hux’s ear. His hands go up and down Hux’s sides, stroking him and pulling him closer.

“Hmm.” Hux weaves his fingers into Ren’s hair, tugging lightly. “I like your questions.”

“Of course you do,” Ren chuckles, his teeth toying with Hux’s earlobe. His hands fly to the buttons on Hux’s pants as Hux unclasps Ren’s belt and tugs at his tunic, pulling it over his head and dumping it on the floor.

When they emerge from the conference room an hour later, thoroughly disheveled and grinning like maniacs, Hux decides that the presentation did, in fact, go quite perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is [retweetable](https://twitter.com/need_more_meta/status/1363195315243921416) and [rebloggable](https://need-more-meta.tumblr.com/post/643664018492489728/we-need-to-talk-needmoremeta-star-wars)!
> 
> If you see something you like, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. :3
> 
> Come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/need_more_meta) and/or [Tumblr](https://need-more-meta.tumblr.com/)! <3


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